Braving the Line at Flour + Water, Plus a Sneak Peek of What’s to Come

Practically from the first day it opened nearly three years ago, San Francisco’s Flour + Water restaurant has had droves of people lining up nightly to get inside.

Who can resist blistered Margherita pizzas and hand-made pork raviolini with chanterelles and thyme?

Not me, as I joined the throngs in line on this Mission District corner on a recent blustery evening to snag a seat at the bar on my own dime.

After all, it sure beat trying to drive home to the South Bay at the height of the rush-hour commute on a Friday night.

Instead of fighting highway traffic, I parked myself on a bar stool right next to the kitchen. It afforded a bird’s eye view of the cooks stretching pizza dough and assembling pasta dishes all under the scrutiny of a very judicious expediter, who took tweezers to plates to arrange microgreens just so before they were delivered to the dining room with his approval.

As I perused the menu, I knew I was going to order pasta. After all, I can’t pass up supple noodles of any sort, but especially ones made every day by hand in the restaurant’s famous upstairs “dough room,” which I got to see on an earlier visit.

I started with a salad of cured steelhead trout ($12) that was a definite spot of brightness on that chilly, dark night. Roasted beets added sweetness, fresh horseradish a hit of fire and paper-thin slices of Persian lime bursts of citrusy refreshment.

For my pasta course, I settled on the cappellacci dei briganti with rabbit sausage, cauliflower and chili ($17). Little triangular cones arrived on the plate with nicely seasoned nuggets of sausage and just enough spice to tickle the back of the throat.

Of course, I couldn’t leave without indulging in dessert, specifically Nocino crema ($8). The dark brown liqueur from Northern Italy is made from unripe green walnuts. Its slightly bittersweet flavor gave balance to the creamy mousse that crowned slices of poached quince. Salty, crunchy brown-butter walnut crumbles strewn on top made it all the more impossible to stop digging my spoon in again and again.

This spring, Flour + Water is expected to open its newest venture just a block away in what was a long-abandoned sausage factory. I had a chance to get a tour of the property that afternoon.

Chef-Proprietor Thomas McNaughton will debut two new businesses there: Salumeria, a real-deal Italian deli that will sell Flour + Water’s charcuterie, mustards, pickles, pastas and sauces; and Central Kitchen, a fine-dining restaurant with a casual setting, including a large, enclosed courtyard that brings the outdoors in.

Two other businesses also will be housed there: Trick Dog, a bar with late-night noshes by mixologists, the Bon Vivants; and The Parlour, a bakery-cafe by ice cream wizard, Humphry Slocombe. Both are expected to open in the near future.

Whether this portends shorter lines at Flour + Water is anyone’s guess. I’m betting it will just mean additional queues clamoring for more of McNaughton’s food.

(For more information on this exciting new project, see my story in Food Arts magazine.)

Well I just totally got off on a tangent reading many of the links to this post. San Francisco has so much to offer. My husband and I went there for our honeymoon almost 28 years ago instead of hitting the tropics. We had a wonderful time. Now most of his family lives there and I can’t remember the last time we’ve visited. Life is just too busy.

Thanks to you, next time we do finally get there I’ll know all the great places to eat. How lucky you are to be invited to so many wonderful restaurants to indulge in their special dishes.

Carolyn, I was lucky enough to go to Flour and Water a few months ago for a birthday party. The food was amazing and they even made me homemade gluten-free pasta – an unbelievable treat for me.
I need to go back!
-Erin

Yummy Supper: My friends who are gluten-allergic always tell me how difficult it is to find great tasting pasta that they can actually eat and enjoy. What a treat for you that the restaurant went the extra mile to whip up a batch of homemade gluten-free noodles for you.